Administrative Data Research Centre for England

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Workshop on Synthetic Data

ONS, Dec 2014

The Administrative Data Research

Centre for England

and The Role of Synthetic Data

Dr Andy Cullis, Senior Data Scientist

University of Southampton2

Outline of talk ESRC Big Data Initiative

What is the Administrative Data Research Network (ADRN)

What is the Administrative Data Research Centre for England (ADRC-E)

ADRC-E infrastructure

What is the process for using data in the ADRC-E?

Role of Synthetic data in the ADRC-E

ADRC-E Synthetic data requirements

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ESRC’s Big Data Initiative Administrative Data Task Force 2011-12

BIS awarded ESRC £64m for a Big Data Initiative

Phase 1 (started Oct 2013) Administrative Data Research Network (ADRN)

Five year funding project

Two other phases to come in 2014-15

Business and Local Authority Data Research Centres

Civil Society Data Partnership Projects

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What is the Administrative Data Research Network (ADRN) Four Administrative Data Research Centres (one in each

country of the UK)

And an Administrative Data Service (ADS) – coordinates ADRN policies and procedures and key role in public engagement

Each ADRC is a partnership between academic institution(s) and respective national statistical organisations

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What is the Administrative Data Research Centre for England (ADRC-E) Led by the University of Southampton and run in

collaboration with

The Office for National Statistics

University College London

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

The Institute for Fiscal Studies

The Institute for Education

Director: Peter Smith (University of Southampton) 6

ADRC-E Infrastructure Access to the Office for National Statistics Virtual

Microdata Laboratory facilities and secure research laboratories in Southampton (UoS) and London (UCL) for the analysis of de-identified linked administrative data

Staff –

Southampton - 2 data scientists and 3 Research Fellows

London - 2 data scientists and 2 Research Fellows

Plus staff in London, Southampton and ONS

who manage liaison across sites

responsible for public engagement

communications activities, user outreach & training

A team of academics providing advice and leading coordinated research programmes 7

What is the process for using data in the ADRC-E?

A researcher approaches the ADRN

Project accreditation/ethics/approval and data supplier

Data from suppliers linked by trusted (third) party (e.g. ONS)

Access to linked anonymised data granted within appropriate secure setting for analysis

All outputs vetted and approved

End of project - Data destroyed, documentation and syntax/code retained

Plain English summaries of research published

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Role of Synthetic data in ADRC- E

• Why do we need synthetic data?

• Two perspectives:

• Researcher wishing to use linked data

• Data Scientist support the ADRC-E

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Role of Synthetic data in ADRC-E

•Researcher wishing to use linked data

• Get a better understanding of the variables in the datasets

• Be able to prepare syntax/code

• Run exploratory models to help decide on feasibility of data linkage project

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Role of Synthetic data in ADRC-E

•Data Scientist support at ADRC-E

• Enable us to get better understanding of potential Administrative data sources

• Understand the quality of the Administrative data to be used in projects

• Help in preparation of data to be uploaded in secure environment

• Advise researchers of potential issues with the Administrative data they hope to use

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ADRC-E Synthetic data requirements

•What do we need

• Data synthesised to differing degree

• Regularly used administrative data

• Who holds these types of datasets?

• Where could it be accessed?

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